Water Race Track was a maintenance track located above the Wainuiomata Water Race.
Water Race Track was a sidling track built above the Wainuiomata water race, which was cut into the northern side of Reservoir Valley. The track wound along the natural curves of the hillside. Built during construction of the water race, it was later used as a maintenance track.
During the early 1920s, much of the track was buried beneath rock and debris during the construction of Maintenance Road above. As the new road was cut into the hillside to accommodate the Orongorongo pipeline, spoil was cast down the slope. This material covered most of the Water Race Track below, including manhole access points that had once provided entry into the water race. While this effectively destroyed large sections of the track, it also serves as a marker of where the route once ran. Although the track was generally flat, it was narrow due to the gradient of the hillside, and debris from the road construction above filled in the track causing it to blend into the natural contours of the hillside. In broader, flatter areas, the track still remains visible in places, but some of these larger flat sections are also overgrown with supplejack, making them difficult to walk through.
Some sections of this old track remain accessible from below, where short side tracks once linked the tramway to the water race. Likely formed during construction to haul concrete uphill, these paths still exist but are also difficult to find and follow. Other link tracks may have been created to access leaks in the race.
In short, although remnants of the track survive to this day, it is not suitable for walking and most of the old track now forms part of the sloped hillside. Still, it remains a significant part of Wainuiomata’s water infrastructure history.
